NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Unrelated to NFL football, but we have some pretty smart folks on this site and I'm curious to read their replies . . .

I live in Ohio which is (and has been) under a state-wide Governor's mandate for all people who go out in public to wear a face covering. Because of a pre-existing condition (COPD), I don't venture out to stores very often but, from what I can determine, virtually everyone is complying with this mandate and has been for, at least, the past three to four weeks.

Now, the State Health Department (via a daily briefing by the Governor) is reporting an increase in Covid-19 cases in the state above and beyond the daily average for the past 21 days.

So, here's my question:

IF the wearing of a facial covering is intended to reduce the spread of Covid -AND- virtually everyone is complying, then how can the number of confirmed cases be increasing?​

 

Tested positive for fecal matter though.

 

Good question...and I have some thoughts.

In Nashville we have the public mandate to wear a mask. And it's been in place since May, maybe April. But the state of Tennessee as a whole did not fully adopt the mandate. Nashville has a Democrat Mayor but Tennessee has a Republican Governor....and it's created a conflict. There are other counties where masks aren't required...in some of them there was a mask mandate during times but have since been lifted. So not every is wearing them.

Even in Nashville where a public mandate exists...I see a lot of folks on the street without masks. Especially around restaurants and bars. Broadway, a stretch of road in Nashville with around 80 to 100 honky tonks and dive bars, is littered with people daily and despite a police presence you will still see folks moving about without masks.

Also...a lot of people who wear them in public don't wear them at work or other places they go throughout their day.

Mask wearing is not a substitute for hand washing...which will forever remain the best way to reduce the spread of germs.

This disease is airborne. It can live on surfaces. It's pretty resilient compared to diseases like it. So it's able to spread even when steps are taken to stop it.

And there's human stupidity. Yesterday I saw a guy at the grocery store remove his mask to sneeze without covering his nose. I saw a lady stick her hand under her mask to lick her fingers so she could grab one of those little plastic bags you put produce in. Which leads me to this quote from Tommy Lee Jones character in Men In Black....

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.

 

Yeah, all of this. Wearing a mask doesn't matter if you don't do it properly.

I won't speak for anywhere beyond my locality, because I haven't traveled at all. I live right on the border of two Florida counties - one largely rural, conservative county, and one more urban, liberal county (bonus points if you can guess which ones). So there's a good mix of people I see, depending on where I go. I haven't made any trip - no matter how short - without seeing at least one person not wearing a mask in public spaces. And I'd wager about half the people I see are wearing masks improperly (usually below their nose). So, it's kind of like poking holes in half of the condoms in a box - sure, you might not be in trouble every time, but it's definitely not reliable protection. The virus is spreading daily.

Testing numbers have also been inaccurately reported across every state, to some degree. I know that Florida's number have been intentionally manipulated from the start, so there's no trusting any of them. And that's kind of the point - people responsible for these numbers just want them to be unreliable, so they can't be held accountable for them. Mission accomplished.

I'm thankful my family has stayed safe, so far. Hopefully everyone else here is, too.

 

The area I live in would probably be considered "Suburban" (as opposed to "Urban" or "Rural") and I don't really frequent urban areas such as you described. However, in Ohio, there have been bars and restaurants in urban areas that have had their liquor license revoked for non-compliance. Obviously, I can't state for a fact that 100% of the population wears a mask 100% of the time. But, one can get a sense of compliance by watching the news and scanning the people in the background of a remote news report. (That's why I stated virtually everyone is in compliance.)

The other two people you mentioned clearly lack common sense but I doubt these types of idiots would collectively drive the numbers up to the point we're seeing here.

 

Broward -> Hendry -or- Dade -> Collier ?

 

I used to live in Palm Beach County, so you'd have been close. I'd say that I'm now further north, but... pretty much everything is north of that.

 

I was stationed at Homestead AFB, my brother lived in Miami (Dade Co.) and had a place in Key Largo (Monroe Co.) and my parents lived in Fort Myers (Lee Co.). So, I'm pretty familiar with South Florida counties.

 

Well, hell, you named all of them in your last two posts. So I'd certainly say so. It'd take you a full day to drive through all of 'em, the area's so big. And now you've narrowed it down to few enough "more liberal" counties that you'd only two hands at most to count them.

 

The Nashville economy depends on drunks and out of towners. They have forced a few bars to close for a night or two and have issued citations. One particular gentleman that owns a group of bars on Broadway has paid fines on a nearly daily basis but it's a drop in the bucket compared to the revenue he's making.

I think the amount of people either half ass complying or not complying at all are probably enough to drive the numbers up when you consider that a mask isn't a 100% prevention.

 

Mask wearing is not a substitute for hand washing...which will forever remain the best way to reduce the spread of germs.

This disease is airborne. It can live on surfaces. It's pretty resilient compared to diseases like it. So it's able to spread even when steps are taken to stop it.


I don't often agree with BWW.......But Kudos that is very well said.

I live a nine iron from the 49th Parallel and the Border has been closed since the end of March and it's really sad when an American crosses because there are so many Paranode People........Covid is NOT a Flu and several visitors have been send back home to the USA.

Lyman, British Columbia folks are following Mandatory Mask's and 2M distancing well........But in Canada the numbers are spiking in Ontario and Quebec.

IF the wearing of a facial covering is intended to reduce the spread of Covid -AND- virtually everyone is complying, then how can the number of confirmed cases be increasing?

That is where I agree with BWW........Hand Washing is critical to prevent the spread of this Virus.

 

Colts say all four tests were false positives, game vs. Bengals is on



The Colts closed their facility today after four members of the team initially tested positive for COVID-19, but their game against the Bengals on Sunday is still on.

“The four positive samples were re-tested and have been confirmed negative,” the team said in a statement. “The team will open the practice facility this afternoon under the league’s intensive protocol and will continue preparation for Sunday’s game against Cincinnati.”

Colts owner Jim Irsay wrote on Twitter that “all is well” and the game will be played as scheduled.

What remains unclear is why the NFL has had so many false positives. Both the NHL and the NBA made it through their entire postseasons testing every player every day without ever having to shut down a team because of a false positive test. The NFL has had several false positives, and four false positives hitting one team at once has to concern the league.

Still, the news is good: The Colts are healthy, and the game is on.

NBC
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What a load a shit... cant trust this testing stuff at all. Who knows whats what these days?

 

Didn't the NFL see a rash of false positives before and determined that all of them came from the same 3rd party test facility?

I have a theory about "false positives/negatives" but it's somewhat technical in nature so I won't bore all of you with it. I will say this: my theory has nothing to do with politics.

 

Nothing exists that would guarantee 100% prevention. But, as you previously noted, this is an airborne virus. The masks are intended to prevent (or minimize) the virus from becoming airborne in public spaces.

Now, as I mentioned before, I rarely go into stores. My wife and I mainly shop on line and use curb side pickup. So, I can't comment on how often people are using hand sanitizers provided by a store. But, if the vast majority of people are, in fact, wearing a mask - then how is the virus becoming airborne to begin with? I just don't understand the mandate logic when combined with the general public's test results.

 

I'm not an expert by any means so this is uneducated speculation on my part.

The disease has been out there for a while...some scientists think late 2019. And it can move from person to person without symptoms. A mask helps but doesn't stop it. The virus can still escape a mask and can still get airborne. A mask is just reducing the possibility.

I personally don't think a majority of people are wearing a mask. I think people do for the most part in areas where they are mandated to. But people are still in bars and restaurants and you can't shove a slice of pizza in your mouth wearing a mask. And you're still gonna touch door knobs, railings, public benches, buses, sinks, so on. So transmission is still very easy for a resilient virus.

I don't love a mask mandate...I think we should trust sick people to stay the fuck home and for everyone to take their own precautions. But human stupidity gets in the way.

 

Just a thought to add to this.

Even though mask wearing has increased, there has also been in increase in the number of "smaller" gatherings. I know quite a few people at my work who have family and close friends over. And nobody is wearing a mask because they all "trust each other". But "who the hell else is everybody hanging out with?" is the million dollar question nobody is thinking about. Not everyone out there is wearing a mask every time and everywhere they go. And it only takes one person to spread it and so on and so forth (you know, like the old Brecks shampoo commercial).

Just as an example.....I remember a health study being done at USC or UCLA back in the late 80's/early 90's where they asked people who their sexual partners were at the school. The results linked over half the campus to each other. Wish I had a link for that, but I don't.

 

And Fauci just came out the yesterday(?) recommending that we all don't have our usual Thanksgiving get-togethers.

 

NBA is operating on a limited staff inside the bubble, with a limited number of teams at 22. Less than 8,000 employees were in the bubble, only 322 of those were players...5795 were support staff to take care of them in the bubble.

NFL teams have roughly 6400 team employees at the 32 facilities, 2,144 of which are players. The NFL employees another 750 in the New York office alone. So, without the bubble you are already looking at 9,294 employees before you get to support staff of hotels, restaurant, stadiums, etc...

Without the bubble you are probably looking at north of 30,000 people involved in the NFL in some way shape or form on a weekly basis in season.

We are talking about daily testing of..

NBA roughly 2205 tests per day
NFL roughly 6400 tests per day

I don't know how many different facilities the NBA is using, but I do know at one point the NFL had 5 different companies doing testing. The big batch of false positives were from the same company..again, I don't know if they are still being utilized, but there is definitely room for error at these facilities. Honestly, I'm surprised we don't get more false positives than we do...the question is..How many false negatives are going unreported?

The fact of the matter is... it is more difficult to contract this disease than originally thought, as long as precautions are being handled daily.

 

Sense of security is what I equate this to Lym..

With the mandate to wear face covering in the state, more and more liberties were granted to the citizens as well. The key words here are also "Face Covering", not N95 Masks. N95 masks would prevent the virus from dispersing into the atmosphere from the mouth and nose. They are also even more uncomfortable and difficult to breath in and we don't have nearly enough to open the state if they were mandated. Face covering can be something as simple as a cut up t-shirt...which is actually safer than many of the commercial masks being sold during this pandemic as cotton is a better deterrent than many of the materials they are making the commercial masks out of.

Then there is the "Mandate" vs. actual force of adherence to said mandate. THE OFFICIALS stated publicly they would not force anyone to wear them if they had medical reasons to not wear them, AND they were not legally allowed to ask for a medical reference releasing them from wearing them.

I will have to disagree with you on the number of people complying in wearing them in Ohio. Unfortunately I am forced into the public daily and unless a store forbids your entry, people are free to walk without them. All too often people are taking advantage of the medical reason and CHOOSING not to wear them. Stores are publicly criticized if they refuse service to those not wearing them, even if they offer curbside assistance.

I agree with either dline or BWW, I can't remember who said it, but personal hygiene will be a deterrent, not face coverings. Until people are smart enough to clean themselves, as soon as they touch the mask, they are exposing themselves to the virus from their other body parts.

Add in the resurgence of mass gatherings, where they are removing the masks when they arrive and it's no wonder the numbers are spiking.

 

Myles Garrett focused on Ben Roethlisberger, not Mason Rudolph



Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is set to face the Steelers for the first time since he was ejected from a 2019 game for hitting Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph in the head with a helmet, but he said Friday that Rudolph isn’t the Pittsburgh quarterback on his mind.

Garrett was suspended for six games as a result and said last month that he hoped to have a “man-to-man” talk with the quarterback that he accused of using a racial slur during the incident. On Friday, though, Garrett said he hasn’t considered approaching Rudolph on Sunday because his focus is on Ben Roethlisberger.

“I haven’t thought about it,” Garrett said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “Focusing on how I’m going to get to Ben. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, whether that’s down the road or whenever we see each other. I’m just focused on the gameplan and getting the win. That comes secondary.”

Garrett vowed to “walk away from any situation that we have” during the game and keep his head on “the six seconds that the average play lasts” before turning his attention to the next one.

NBC
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Steelers defense against a offense that is scoring 32 points/game. This is war. Im stoked.